Vale Rowley Butters

Article prepared by Don Poynton who first met Rowley in 1972

(Accompanying photo from PESA News No 75, April/May 2005)

PESA Meritorious Service Awardee, Rowley Edward Butters passed away peacefully on Sunday 12 October, aged 87.

In the April/May 2005 issue of PESA News, newly elected PESA Federal President Dave Cliff wrote, “The biggest change for PESA will be the retirement of Rowley Butters as the society’s Secretariat. Rowley has been with the organization since its inception as the APEA Profession Division in 1968 when he was press-ganged into being WA Branch Treasurer”.

Rowley joined the industry as accountant with WAPET in the mid-1960s. In 1971 he joined Burmah Oil, operator of the North-West Shelf joint venture, as Chief Accountant. Following the sale of Burmah Oil’s interest to BHP in 1976, he transferred to Woodside and took on the role of Senior Accountant (Finance). In 1979 he followed many of Woodside’s staff to Mesa Petroleum. He later served as chief financial officer and/or company secretary of several smaller petroleum exploration companies.

As an extremely well-regarded accountant and with an affable personality, it was natural for organizations to seek his advice or if possible, coerce him into taking a role in their administration.

Rowley served on PESA’s WA Branch committee and was branch treasurer from 1989 to 1993. He also spent time on the PESA Publications Sub-committee.

 In 1996, when fellow Western Australian Jim Durrant was president, Rowley accepted Jim’s approach to take on the role of PESA’s company secretary and accountant on a voluntary basis. Then, when Ahmed Tabassi became president in 2000, it was recommended by Wal Muir and Grant Ellis that PESA required a permanent and paid professional secretariat to keep the association’s books straight and administration in order.

Dave went on to say, “Rowley and his wife Bev have done this with a passion for PESA that will be difficult to replace. Rowley’s knowledge of PESA, its history, constitution and its characters is immense.”

Rowley was awarded PESA’s Meritorious Service Award in 2001. Bev received the same honor in 2014 for continuing to serve the WA branch for many years after Rowley’s retirement.

Rowley’s valuable knowledge and experience saw him serve on the Board of Directors of the Western Australian Mining and Petroleum Research Institute (WAMPRI) and its successor the Minerals and Energy Research Institute of Western Australia (MERIWA) for many years.

Outside the industry, he was a keen participant and later follower of sport. In fact, he even took the saying “break a leg” literary and on one occasion came to work with his leg in a caste after breaking it playing in a social soccer match for Burmah Oil.

With his interest in finance, it is not surprising that he was also a passionate and esteemed coin collector, once owning the 1663 Simon’s Petition Crown depicting Charles II, generally regarded as one of the finest coins ever produced. Many of the coins in his former collection are referred to in world auction catalogues as Ex- Rowley Butters collection. In 2022 he was made an Honorary Life Member of the Perth Numismatic Society where he had already received the Haydn Donald Powell Memorial Gold Award for services to the society.

Rowley is survived by his wife Bev, and children Lynda, Ian and Michael.

A gentleman who served the industry, his community and his interests, with dedication and passion. We could ask no more.